Thursday, June 29, 2006

Allergic to France, Part Deux

So, my nice eye doctor fit me in for another emergency session to try to help me control these allergies. I don't have any other symptoms except for the exremely watery, itchy eyes. It was so bad on Tuesday that I cried out of one eye throughout my last BTS class for the year. (And a big "Hell, yeah!" for being through with the BTS -- whew, really, I'm meant for children, not 18-22 year olds. Seriously.) No need to mention there are no contact lenses for me at present. I don't mind wearing my glasses but I can't stand the constant crying and itchiness. The doctor said (more or less) "Oh, dear..." when he got a look at my eyes.

I've never had serious problems with allergies before, and not so much in the states...every once in a while, but never this bad and nothing a little Patanol wouldn't fix right up. My first case was triggered by my very first visit to the in-laws, but that was over Christmas break. In fact, it could be that all of my flare-ups were triggered by trips to France. Damn, damn, damn, damn. Does anyone know anything about eye allergies? My doctor was very nice and said that a lot of people in this area have problems between the wheat fields and the forests, but basically we'll have to see if it gets better or not. Could be dust allergies, could be anything. In the meantime, I have these drops. Anyone have any ideas what to do to try to fix the problem? I assume I should really get out the dust rags and wash my quilts. I vacuum on a daily basis because of the cat but I should probably change the HEPA filter on the vacuum. Any other ideas? Would a fan help or hurt matters? Does anyone have an air purifier or is that a waste of money? I'm tempted to get one just to see if I'll reap any psychosomatic rewards.

And while normally I am a fairly private person about this kind of thing, I am desperate enough to ask on the blogosphere: can allergies be another factor in not getting pregnant? Since I've gone off of birth control I haven't had any luck getting pregant, but I sure have gotten zits. Damn, damn, damn. I know, I know, I'm not supposed to worry about it and I'm not supposed to stress, but that's a whole lot easier said than done. I'm not going to bother the gyno until a year has gone by (and it's approaching fast) but I'll take any advice I can get in order to be armed with (possibly too much) information at my next visit. Thanks...

8 comments:

Pam said...

I don't know if this will help, but whenever our eyes are irritating us, Tony uses a warm salt water 'bath' on our eyes. At least that gives us relief.

Anonymous said...

Have you taken some benadryl? Not in the eyes, of course, but just a teaspoonful or whatever the dose.
Sure hope you are better by now.
How are the French doing in the last games? still winning I hope.
Take care and good luck.

Pardon My French said...

Thanks, Pam! A saline bath makes sense...I've been putting warm compresses and that also helps.

I haven't taken benadryl but I'll look into if the drops don't help. I'll let you know more about the games, believe me. :) Thanks for leaving a comment.

EuroTrippen said...

Hi there... just stumbled across your blog! I'm a recent expat living in Germany and boy do I feel your pain when it comes to allergies. I've tried saline eye baths, saline nostril sprays... at this point I'd try a saline bidet if someone promised me it would work. I'm pretty much a walking ad for benadryl at the moment...

EuroTrippen said...

p.s. Great name for a blog!

Unknown said...

Thanks for visiting my blog. First of all, when I moved here I had a "leprosy" like outbreak all over my face. This red, peeling, blistering lasted for about my first 5 or 6 months. Turns out I was allergic to the water. Yes, French water. But my body finally got used to it and it went away. Magic?

Second, my friend got of birth control and it took her about 2 years to get pregnant. Keep trying!

Pardon My French said...

Eurotrippen, thanks for the comment! I checked out your blog, too, but for some reason it's teeny tiny on my screen. I guess it's my browser or something...I'll see if I can fix it. Anyway, I love your Birks; when I was in Germany for language study years ago I bought my very first pair. They're exactly the same style as yours but in wine-colored leather, and they're still with me.

Angela, glad to know that things got better for you with the water and thanks for the encouragement. I'm feeling better today!

christina said...

Hi! I'm in Germany and SO many people have had really bad allergies this year due to the late spring and a lot of stuff blooming at once. Maybe it's the same for France? Seeing an allergist might be a good idea to pinpoint the allergen you're dealing with. Could it be some kind of cream or cosmetic that's bothering you?


As for getting pregnant, I suppose that your immune system being all riled up could have an effect, but a year isn't really that long. If you want to see if you're ovulating regularily, you can use the sympto-thermal method (Google will give you lots of info) and make a little chart to show your doctor.